Greasy Pole Game aboard Ship

High jinks on the high seas: sample Union-Castle Line’s on-board entertainment.

This film is one of a number to focus on the games played by liner passengers while at sea. Popular on-board pastimes made popular on-land films, giving rise to a peculiar sub-genre. Here, as producer R.W. Paul’s catalogue gleefully describes: “two men sit on a boom or a spar and batter each other with pillows… Their antics as they try to cling on are most funny.” Other games filmed for entertainment include obstacle races, human wheelbarrows and tetherball.